About The Two Hands

Quite frankly I don’t know how to fill both the hands at the same time. But my heart says that we should fill them. Let me submit here that religion and spirituality is not a matter of teaching as much as it is a matter of practising and applying. Let it be an inspiring and motivating force which makes the people do their best in every field of life – with a fresh look at the texts. The simple ideals of Islam could be related more and more from the pulpit every week for learning more about Islam and its relevance. It is a very big amount of time which we devote for learning Islam. Imagine half an hour every week for the entire life. With the right interpretation and application it can very easily fill the right hand. As it did earlier. Please allow me to give an example here. To me among the benefits of fasting (sawm) it is also included that one is trained in self-discipline so that s/he is capable of working in a laboratory for longer hours without eating and drinking – in order to discover a law of nature – Sunnat Allah.) This is very important to know for removing the self-doubt. The confluence, therefore, is both easy and difficult. With the right interpretation and application a ‘scientist’ may stand up and deliver the Friday khutbah – because Islam does not believe in the division of knowledge in the first place. ‘Ilm is ‘science’ in Arabic, interestingly.

Let it be a decision of the student at the completion of grade XII what s/he would like to pursue – based on proper counselling from the teachers (who are actually counsellors). Let the teachers spot the specific talent in the students and groom them accordingly. The Arabic language and Islamic fundamentals could be a compulsory part of the curriculum till grade XII so that the students get a feeling of the language and the ideals and it helps them decide the future course of studies based on their own inclination. If a student is showing an aptitude for deeper studies in Tafseer, for instance, let her go ahead for it. We should have only the centers of specialization for Hadeeth, Tafseer and Fiqh – as an example. Those who opt for this should spend more time for more proficiency in Arabic as a prerequisite. We should have these centers just as we have for all other subjects – from the Bachelor’s level onwards. At the very outset we do not know which stream the student will take to after grade XII.

We should not decide ourselves that a student should definitely become an ‘aalim – in the conventional sense of the word or a biologist for that matter. What is admirable about the modern educational institutions is the fact that they give ample room to the students to decide the stream of education. It does not happen in madrasaahs. In madrasaahs, the will of the parents and the system prevails – in utter disregard of the aptitude of the students. I am a witness to the fact that some of the students were not at all disposed to study the kind of materials they were made to study. But they did so – out of compulsion. They could have earned greater achievements in other disciplines.

We can ultimately do away with the nomenclatures like ‘modern’, ‘traditional’, ‘secular’ and ‘religious’. The names leave an unconscious impact and condition the patterns of thinking. This is why the division has become deeper. Also, not everything taught in the name of modern may really be modern. We might be teaching some old theories, too. I don’t know much about it, though. Therefore, let us just name the sciences and disciplines e.g. Chemistry, Biology, Tafseer, Business Administration, Hadeeth, Nanotechnology etc etc. It will take time – undoubtedly.

The above submissions are just to initiate a discussion on the modalities of the confluence and on coming together of the spirit of the two streams. Please share your ideas on this subject. We will keep a record of it. May be we should have a conference on this subject. It will require a lot of efforts. As we advance the things will become clearer with more suggestions from the friends. I believe that ‘no problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking’ (Voltaire).